pontificate

The 70-year-old pope, born as Robert Prevost in Chicago and known for most of his life as “Bob,” has had a quiet start to his pontificate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 21, 2026

And as Mother Russia Mr. Turner is uproariously funny, interrupting the proceedings to rant and pontificate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Pope Leo XIV held the first Christmas mass of his pontificate on Wednesday, greeting thousands of faithful in St Peter's Square before the service in an usually informal style.

From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis made many impassioned remarks on the war in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Strip "shamefull".

From BBC ● May 5, 2025

They pontificate upon the fluffiness of the popcorn, the sweetness of the chocolate.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

With his 10 years as pontiff, Francis has now reigned longer than the 7.5 years average length of the previous 265 pontificates.

From Reuters ● Mar. 13, 2023

Francis told Gaenswein to stop coming to the office and to dedicate himself to caring for Benedict, essentially ending his job as the “bridge” between the pontificates.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2023

Later, he pontificates on his culinary influences, against a musical backdrop of classical guitar.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 18, 2019

It's as though he never wants to get his hands dirty so he pontificates from his moral high horse far above the rest of us mere mortals.

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2018

The captain stands behind me at the helm, and pontificates to his congregation of one.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

In 2009, Christine Smallwood wrote an article for The Baffler in which she pontificated as to what the internet would look like, if it were made physical.

From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026

On Monday’s episode of The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg pontificated on the matter for an entire segment, reading from Van der Velden’s apology before going in for the takedown.

From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2025

I listened where before I might only have pontificated.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025

Some recalled tales from the Cannes Film Festival; others debated the merits of different artificial intelligence platforms and pontificated on the future of “wearable AI.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2023

For days, columnists, editorial and letter writers across Britain pontificated on the meaning of the Wandii's verdict and the validity of an addiction to hacking as a defence.

From Underground by Suelette Dreyfus

Rebecca Nagle: The part we all know is the part where Thomas Jefferson is pontificating about these enlightenment ideals.

From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2026

The vice president pretended to pivot from “a longer discussion” of the subject, but then he immediately started pontificating about the culture’s “desire” to classify “celestial beings who fly around “as aliens.”

From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026

The White House, in response to those remarks, said Madden should “stick to pontificating about pump-and-dump fraud schemes instead of international trade,” as MarketWatch reported last year.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

The actor is refreshingly blasé about his process, not taken to pontificating about how he “finds” a character.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024

“After all of your pontificating about the contortionist?”

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern